PARIS — Fourth seed Tomas Berdych fought off some stiff resistance from fellow Czech Radek Stepanek to advance to the third round of the French Open 6-3 6-7(7) 6-3 6-3 on Wednesday.
Berdych, who has yet to win a grand slam title despite being in the top-10 for five years, kept his composure despite Stepanek's wily tactics, dropping serve only once.
He wrapped it up on a sun-kissed Court One when 36-year-old Stepanek, who became the oldest man to win a match at Roland Garros since Jimmy Connors in 1991 when he defeated Ivan Dodig in round one, double-faulted.